| Quality motorcycle gear combines comfort, style, fit, | | | | and expose you to injury, so they put hard plastic |
| durability, weather protection, and armor. The bottom | | | | plates inside a thick layer of firm foam. Some |
| line with equipment is, you WILL eventually fall, and | | | | garments also have built in spine protectors. If not, |
| when you do, you will most likely become very close | | | | however, and you feel that you are not properly |
| friends with the pavement. So you need the | | | | protected, jacket liners with armor pads are available |
| "maximum impact and abrasion resistance" as possible. | | | | for purchase, which are called "body guard jackets". |
| Armor is extra padding sewn into the jacket or pants | | | | For the most part, jackets off the rack consist of |
| to cushion likely spots of impact. Road rash is the not | | | | small, medium, large, and extra large. But there is more |
| so fun part about riding a motorcycle. It is painful and | | | | to a well fitting jacket than that. Your protection |
| bloody, but impacts can cause serious and sometimes | | | | depends on how well your equipment fits. If you luck |
| fatal internal damage. So shoulders, elbows, buttocks, | | | | out and find a jacket that you like and fits well off the |
| and knees are spots that you want to be well | | | | rack, you're in business. But if you don't you can order |
| protected, as they are the most common of impact | | | | custom made leathers. There is 5 companies |
| points. In any serious crash it isn't hard to get a bruise | | | | worldwide that can do your custom fit; Langlitz, Bates, |
| on all of these body locations. Other common regions | | | | Z Custom Leather, Vanson, and Aerostitch. But don't |
| of impact are the chest, back, and collar bone. So as | | | | expect to order up your jacket and have it in a week. |
| you can see armor placement is crucial. | | | | Each company can only produce about 1600 custom |
| Material used for armor is another major concern. | | | | jackets per year, so there is a waiting list as long as |
| They are usually composites of plastic and foam. | | | | the dictionary. So make sure you place your order well |
| Simple plastic plates would slash through the material | | | | before you need to ride, or you could be hooped. |